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This week the designers were taken to the Elie Tahari offices where they met the designer himself to receive their challenge. They had to create a read to wear look that would retail between $500 and $700. The winning look would be produced and sold in Elie Tahari stores and online. It's probably one of the best prizes of this All Star season so for. Emilio found himself in between the bottom and top this week. While the judges considered him among the bottom three, they all agreed that he would not be going home. He made a "fine" dress, they said. They didn't love the color because it's very hard for a lot of people to wear. Emilio has been dipping back into his terrible color habits lately, which could really trip him up. Overall, the judges liked it, but it wasn't original or interesting enough. It was just a nice dress.

Joshua didn't do so well with the judges this week. His dress struggled in the fit department and the judges scolded him for using a b…

They come along several times a season. They bring too much drama and too many cat fights. They bring out the worst in everyone--including the judges and the viewers. They rarely produce great fashion. And we hate them. They're the team challenges.

It seems that Lifetime hopes we love to hate them--and that we love to hate them enough to watch an entire season of team challenges. Either that or Lifetime's research people never read any blogs, tweets or comments about their own shows so they are completely unaware of how much we dislike these challenges. I suppose they're hoping to blend Project Runway in with the rest of their screaming, meltdown-driven reality programing by putting these poor designers in a rage incubator sure to give us emotional explosions worthy of the worst Prom Queens. Perhaps we'll even have a challenge where we are forced to watch teams dress the Dance Moms after they've found out that none of their daughters gets to be the prima donna.

It's year-in-review time. I love all the best, worst, top, bottom, funniest, weirdest lists that people come up with this time of year. Because it's fun to look back, I have collected some of our most viewed and commented posts of 2012.

This look started out as an attempt to make a black dress look very young and fresh. Of course, this one has a sexy back drape. I didn't want a blue purse considering my blue accessories, but that clutch is a fake book. A book, people. It could not be passed up. I'd wear this with winged liner and red lips.

Project Runway All Stars is finally at the point in the season where all of the designers get judged. Since all six designers would be on the runway, Caroline announced this would be a fashion face-off. Each of the designers were assigned one of three 1920s fashion themes. The designer who shared the same theme would face off so that one would be in the top and the other in the bottom. I don't really care for these types of challenges, because it usually results in a really good look ending up in the bottom while a mediocre one landed in the top. This one, however, worked out pretty well.

Emilio and Joshua - Afternoon Garden Party
Emilio and Joshua had the least fancy event and created the most middle of the road looks. The judges put Emilio in the top and Joshua in the bottom. It was a tough decision because they actually liked both pieces. I preferred Joshua's look. I thought it was the most versatile and wearable. Emilio's dress was pretty, but I wonder how it would look…

I believe we've featured this green velvet dress before, but now it's on super clearance! Being green velvet, it's perfect as a Christmas party dress. However, since it's a mossy shade instead of emerald, you can wear it other times of the year without looking Christmasy. Since this is a statement dress, I kept things simple with a nude bootie, metallic box clutch, and cuff bracelet. I would wear this look with dramatic gold and bronze eyes and nude lips and nails (yes, I said nude!).

Fashion Me Fabulous is usually a fun place to look at clothes and enjoy some fashion, which is exactly what Jael and I have worked to make it over the past five years. However, as we usually do this time of year, I want to take a little time out of the fashionable fun to share a cause I really believe in.

This year, I'd like to talk to you about Kiva. Kiva isn't a traditional charity because you don't give money; you lend it. Kiva allows anyone to make a loan as small at $25 to help create opportunity around the world. The struggle in many developing areas is the lack of access to traditional banking systems. Without banks, people can't get loans. Without loans, they can't get the money they need to start or continue businesses. Without businesses, they can't earn a living or build their economy.

But we can change that. We can help people build their businesses. Best of all, the money gets paid back* so you can loan it out again or, if you need it, you can w…

I've written before that I have extremely sensitive skin. In fact, even most products marketed for sensitive skin have ingredients that irritate my skin. To add to my problems, I also have a lot of allergies. If any products contain certain plant or nut extracts, I might have an allergic reaction. The same goes for anything containing soy or coconut. I was happy to accept the opportunity from Blogher and Cetaphil brand to try a few products that might be gentle enough for my tricky skin.

As a result of my sensitive, allergy-ridden skin, I haven't been able to find a body wash that works for me in ages. Bar soap has been my only option--until now. Thanks to Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, I have a softening body, face and hand wash that won't irritate my sensitive skin or inflame my myriad of allergies. The word 'gentle' in the name is key. It is oh so gentle. (Some of the body washes I've tried seem so heavy or cloying or even overly-moisturizing or too astringe…

Wow. What is happening at Kohl's? I stopped paying attention to them years ago, but this past month, I can't stop drooling over their inventory. Congratulations to the buyer.

This week, I am completely in love with their gorgeous color block wiggle dress. It looks like a better version of a Stella McCartney design from a few years ago. The neckline, the seaming at the waist, and the ruching up top all make this a prettier, more wearable dress than the designer version. The $90 sale price is also a nice selling point. While I normally prefer the colored version of anything, in this case the neutral dress actually shows off the dress and the wearer better than the purple one. Snatch this one up fast!

I recently received the opportunity to review some Mary Kay products through our advertising network, BlogHer. I've reviewed some of their products in the past, and I was really excited to try more from Mary Kay.
I'm going to begin by updating you on four of the products I tried last time--the Compact Mini, the Mineral Eye Color, the Cheek Color and the Ultimate Mascara.
The Compact Mini is a great system. It can hold three eye shadows and a cheek color on the top level. Under that is a secret compartment for your brushes and sponges. It's perfect for travel. The eye shadows and cheek color don't snap into pre-determined holes, either; the tray is a magnet and you just plop in the colors you want. This means you can actually put six eye shadows in if you skip the blush. I have rosy cheeks, so I don't always use blush. My compact currently has six shadows in it, making it the perfect little travel compact for me.
Speaking of eye shadow, I was able to try a few more…

This week the designer were introduced to an expensive watch designer who promised the winner a very expensive watch. But the challenge had nothing to do with time or watches or anything of the sort. This was actually the unconventional materials challenge, and they were taken to shop at a Christmas store. This has to be one of my favorite unconventional materials sources yet. I love Christmas, and I think all the shimmer and baubles are the perfect sources for some pretty fun looks. The only stipulation was that the looks could not have anything to do with Christmas.Emilio was the only safe designer this week. He was probably thanking his lucky starts too because he dress was another not-so-great one. I don't know if any of you have ever seen those baskets made out of a paper bag, fabric and paper twist, but that's what this reminded me of. They were a nice enough craft in the 90s, but they are not high fashion.

Why We Love It: Sometimes Jael and I work on the same wavelength. I was planning to feature this shop full of glittery, faceted, fun baubles and she just recommended it to me. This jewelry would make kicky additions to holiday attire as well as year-round fare.

Far and away, the most popular shoe we've ever featured was Poetic Licence's Victorian tapestry boot. Even during dead of summer heat waves, people click on that boot. Either you all enjoy feeling like proper ladies or we have a bunch of cos-players in the audience. Both sound good to me.

Pleaser had started as a fetish shoe company -- six inch lucite spikes and platforms with slots for tips. Not cute and not for most women. Pleaser still isn't for most women, but they seem to have branched into cosplay with their Funtasma line. That well-named line offers a variety of shoes for lovers of everything from anime to steampunk. The beautiful gold and black scroll work on "Victorian-45" sent me on this peculiar shoe hunt. If you even slightly like Victorian style, you have to love this boot. It's required. And look, there's more!spats "Spelndor" $62 / straight laced "Victorian-120" $45 / brown brogue "Victorian-110"$35removeable …

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge print nightgown ($58, Anthropologie).
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two spiked dove rings ($29, Rachel Roy) and a partridge print nightgown.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me three french hen sweaters ($59, J. Crew), two spiked dove rings and a partridge print nightgown.

On the forth day of Christmas my true love gave to me four calling bird phone cases ($35.99, Zappos), three french hen
sweaters, two spiked dove rings and a partridge print nightgown.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five stacked gold rings ($28, Miss KL). . . four calling bird phone cases, three french hen
sweaters, two spiked dove rings and a partridge print nightgown.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me six goose egg lockets ($21.99, ASOS), five
stacked gold rings. . . four calling bird phone cases, three french hen
sweaters, two spiked dove rings and a partrid…